Thinking about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

I am preparing this blog in consultation with my son, Matthew, aged twenty years. He has prepared the text below, so the writing is entirely his. He and I saw the movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny recently and found it entertaining. It’s rated PG-13, mostly for some violent action scenes, but there isn’t anything that pushes the boundaries of that rating in those scenes.

It’s an action-adventure movie with a period setting from the late 1960s, the time I was growing up. It was fun to see how authentic the setting was—the style of cars, dress, décor, etc.

Matthew continues…

Intro

Dad and I recently saw the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Dad enjoyed it, and was interested in having me write a review for it that could be posted on the blog. I agreed to share my thoughts, and I’ll try to communicate my feelings without revealing anything that hasn’t already been shown in the trailers.

Plot Summary

The film begins with a much talked about sequence featuring a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford. This scene is set at the end of World War II and strongly evokes the feeling of adventure from the first three movies. Indiana Jones has infiltrated a nazi camp and is trying to retrieve a priceless and powerful artifact: the blade that the Roman centurion stabbed Christ with during his crucifixion. The weapon is going to be sent to Hitler, who believes that its power will enable him to turn the tide of the war and defeat the allied powers. Jones is captured by the nazis before he can retrieve the weapon. However, one nazi scientist doubts the blade is real and sees true power in another weapon at the camp: the Antikythera, otherwise known as Archimedes’ Dial. Jones chases after a nazi train carrying both artifacts, rescuing a British archaeologist/professor at the same time. Indy shares the nazi scientists’ suspicion of the blade and retrieves Archimedes’ Dial instead. However, it is not clear what happens to the dial at the end of the scene. After this the film moves forward in time to 1969, shortly after the moon landing.

Now, Indy is an aged archaeology professor who plans to retire. He doesn’t want to go back into field work, but his goddaughter, who’s the daughter of the British professor in the previous scene, reveals that the dial is still out there. She tries to coax Indy back into the field, but he refuses However, a series of inexplicable events and the return of the nazi scientist from the opening scene force him back into the field, despite not knowing who is friend or foe.

Acting Improves the Film

Harrison Ford delivers a great final performance, particularly during the action scenes. Incredibly for a man his age, he risked injury to do many of his own stunts. Most noteworthy is his digital de-aging in the opening scene, which is some of the most convincing work I’ve seen with that effect. However, his face is often lit darkly in that scene, to prevent any animation inconsistencies from being visible.

The other actors in the film turn in solid performances. Mads Mikkelsen plays the nazi villain, who acts as a fairly typical Indiana Jones antagonist, both in characterization and in performance. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays Indy’s goddaughter, who acts as the female foil, although she isn’t a love interest, unlike previous female characters. I was worried her character would always be saving Indy from jams he’s too old to get out of himself, but this is mostly avoided in the film. I particularly enjoyed John Rhys-Davies return as Sallah, and I wished he had been given a more prominent role in the story. The weakest link is a “kid sidekick” character who appears in the second half of the movie. His actor gives a decent performance but the character isn’t given anything to do for much of his screen time.

De-aged Indy (Image from Rotten Tomatoes)

Comparisons to Other Films and Evaluation

This film shares many similarities with director James Mangold’s previous movie, Ford V. Ferrari. These films are both set in the 60s, focus on older men who aren’t content with their current times, and feature throwbacks to action films of previous eras. However, Ford V. Ferrari is significantly better as it isn’t saddled with high expectations from previous films and it tells an inspiring and little known story, rather than having to service fans and include callbacks to previous films.

However, I think Dial of Destiny is a decent finale to the franchise, and it certainly feels more like a classic Indy film than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dial of Destiny does subvert expectations significantly by focusing on an artifact that’s powers are based in science rather than religion or the supernatural. Indy has a decent character arc that brings his character full circle from the first film, and there’s nothing in the film I would consider outright bad. However, I don’t think it ever is as electrifying as the first film, or as funny and shocking as the third. The best part for me was the music. John Williams, in what could be his final film score, delivers more classic adventure music that’s based on his original themes but includes a few new and memorable melodies.

Final Verdict

Overall, I would recommend watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in theaters, as the action of the film plays best on a large screen. The locations visited are visually engaging, the action is well staged, and the film moves at a consistently fast pace despite being two and a half hours long. Don’t go in expecting a film as good as the originals, but the film provides a satisfying conclusion to the story of America’s most iconic archaeologist!

Overall Grade: 7.4/10.

Listen to John Williams’ Soundtrack HERE.

View the Trailer HERE: or below

Featured Image Credit: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indiana_jones_and_the_dial_of_destiny